In honor of of today being my grandma’s birthday, I am skipping forward to Monday’s recap. Don’t worry, I’ll be back for Sunday manana.

Me and my grandma. 2/21/2011 <3

How amazing is it that she’s turning 94?! One of the main reasons I flew into Washington over the weekend was to spend some time with her. She lives in Seattle, so I planned an early evening return flight back to California in order to allow for a leisurely lunch out. Her pick? Tom Douglas’ Dahlia Lounge, located downtown on 4th Avenue. She’d read about it in one review or another and fell in love with it some time ago when she and my dad went. They’ve been back several times since and I can certainly see why. Wow, my grandma has superb taste! Everything from the decor and ambience to the food and service is wonderful! Really, one of my top dining experiences in Seattle and I’ve been fortunate enough to have a few of them. Can’t wait to go back already or try one of Mr. Douglas’ numerous other Seattle eateries. Photos of our Dahlia Lounge birthday lunch follow.

Downtown Seattle from Grandma’s condo on First Hill

Dahlia Lounge entrance on 4th Avenue.

Salute!

Dungeness crab spicy mayo, cucumber, salmon roe 4.5

Dahlia potato loaf grilled cheese beecher’s flagship cheddar, market salad, tom’s tasty tomato soup 12.

Dungeness crab cakes fingerling potato, saffton aioli, poached sweet peppers, watercress, preserved lemon 18./29.

Pan roasted ahi tuna crushed avocado, new crop citrus, radish, cucumber, watercress 16.

True cod ‘n’ chips tartar sauce, lemon, apple ~ endive slaw 14.

Special of the day: Potato Fritter Gyro.

Tom’s world famous crème caramel 9. Reminded me of flan. A really fantastic topnotch flan.

Dahlia coconut cream pie white chocolate, toasted coconut 9.

Our server, who was so great, couldn’t get over my grandma’s age– in a good way! And she’s right to gush. My grandma is in truly wonderful spirits. Her mind is sound, and she completely polished off her glass of wine, crab cake dish, and practically an entire piece of coconut cream pie… and I thought I could pack it away! I was so happy to see Grandma put a huge dent in this! All weekend I heard about her and this famous coconut cream pie. It’s so good that she’ll make my dad double park to run into the bakery to pick this up for her!  To boot, she still has an opinion about everything, which I get a kick out of. For instance, over lunch she told me that I need to move to New York City to pursue writing. I’m flattered she thinks I could do something like this for a living, but New York? Nahh. I’m a West Coast girl! Plus, I enjoy being able to fly 1.5 hours to do stuff like this! Happy Birthday, Grandma!